fold

Architecture and interiors, Copenhagen.

Work Hospitality

Strandhuset

Rågeleje, North Zealand. 2023. Built.

A dark timber beach restaurant with a single steep roof sloping toward the sea, glazed on its long side and lit from inside at dusk.

From the dune at dusk. The roof lifts toward the water and the glazing follows it.

The old kiosk on this beach had been washed out twice. The new building stands 90 centimetres above the highest recorded water, on piles that can be unbolted and replaced, and it opens its whole western side to the evening light.

Clay model of Strandhuset, approach view. The building as you arrive, with its roof on and the site around it.

Views

The building as you arrive, with its roof on and the site around it.

Describe the model in words

A white clay model of Strandhuset, 22 by 11 metres on plan, standing on its site. It has 4 views: approach, plan, section and light. Scrolling the text moves the camera between them, and the Views buttons do the same.

  • Approach. The building as you arrive, with its roof on and the site around it. Marked in this view: Boardwalk from the car park, Roof tilted toward the sea.
  • Plan. The roof lifted away and the camera overhead, to read the rooms and how they connect. Marked in this view: Bar, Kitchen, own delivery door.
  • Section. The building cut open from the south, to show heights, floors and the roof. Marked in this view: 24 pine piles, Slope from 3.8 to 6.5 m.
  • Light. The low sun entering through the glass, seen from inside the cut. Marked in this view: Glazed west wall.

Approach

Guests arrive over a boardwalk from the car park, and the building appears side-on: a long dark roof tilted toward the sea. We wanted it to look more like a boat shed than a restaurant, and the low landward side keeps the wind off the entrance.

The cladding is charred larch, brushed and oiled. The black finish is a way of making the building quiet against sand and sky, and it needs no repainting.

Plan

The plan is a rectangle, 22 metres by 11, with the dining room on the sea side and the services in a band along the landward side. The kitchen has its own door to the delivery track, so that deliveries never cross the terrace.

The bar sits at the hinge between the dining room and the staff block. From there one person can see every table and the door.

Section

With the roof lifted away, the section shows the idea in one line: a single slope from 3.8 metres at the dune side to 6.5 metres at the glass. The lower edge is dense and warm, the higher edge is open.

The floor stands 90 centimetres above the sand on 24 pine piles. After the storm in the first winter the beach lost half a metre of sand under the terrace, and the building did not move.

Light

The glazed side faces west. In July the sun reaches the back wall of the dining room at about nine in the evening, and the wooden ceiling turns the same colour as the sand.

Pendant lamps are hung low and kept dim, so that after dark the room is lit from the tables and the glass shows the sea and not a reflection of the room.

Built for a season

The restaurant opens from March to October. In winter the shutters close, the water is drained from the pipes by a single valve and the whole building is left to the weather. We detailed every junction on the assumption that it will be wet, salty and unheated for five months of the year.

  • A dining room with timber tables and wishbone-style chairs, round pendant lamps, a warm wood floor and tall windows along one wall.
    The main room at lunch. Every table is within ten metres of the glass.
  • A large restaurant hall with a ceiling of hexagonal timber panels, light wooden tables and chairs and a parquet floor.
    The long bar side, with a ceiling of oak panels that hide the ventilation.
  • A long dining table laid with glasses and plates in a dim room with a concrete wall, dried grasses in jars and large green leaves.
    The chef’s table at the quiet end, lit by two lamps and the dried grass from the dune.

Drawings

Plan of Strandhuset Plan at dining floor level, with the sea to the west. Scale 1 to 100. Rooms: Dining room, Bar, Kitchen, Cloaks and toilets, Store and staff. Dining room 143 m² Bar 20 m² Kitchen 24 m² Cloaks and toilets 20 m² Store and staff 35 m² 22 m 11 m 5 m N
Plan at dining floor level, with the sea to the west. Scale 1 to 100.
Cross section of Strandhuset Cross section through the dining room, looking north. Scale 1 to 100. The roof is a single slope, with the eave at 3.8 metres and the highest point at 6.5 metres. Levels: Sand level, Dining floor. Sand level 0 m Dining floor 0.9 m Span 11 m Eave 3.8 m Ridge 6.5 m
Cross section through the dining room, looking north. Scale 1 to 100.

Materials

What the building is made of, where each material is used, and who supplied it.

  • Close photograph of pale oak veneer with a fine straight grain.

    Oak

    Ceiling panels, tables and the bar front

    Ravnkilde Sawmill

  • Close photograph of corrugated zinc sheet, grey with a soft sheen.

    Zinc

    Roof and the bar top, left to weather

    Vesterhav Zink

  • Close photograph of a brushed brass surface in a muted gold tone.

    Brass

    Pendant lamps and door furniture

    Brøndum Messing

  • Close photograph of coarse, undyed linen cloth with a visible weave.

    Linen

    Shutters and window curtains

    Lerche Weavers

Credits

Architect
Fold
Interiors
Mikkel Rask
Structure
Brink og Lund Rådgivende Ingeniører
Builder
Havnefront Entreprise
Lighting
Lysmager Studio
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